Members of the local were barbequing and opening their hall as a shelter for those who had lost their homes in the storm. “My local has always provided for people in times of crisis by offering food and a place to stay, whether you’re a member or not,” Singleton said.

As of October 2, the union hall was one of the few buildings here with electricity. “The only reason we have power is because we happen to be on the same electrical grid as the banks downtown,” said John Henry Reuben, a longshoreman with 31 years in the union, whose home was destroyed in the storm. “The first thing they want to protect is their money.”

As of September 30, the Houston Chronicle put the death toll from Rita at 107. None of these deaths were caused by the storm itself. Most perished in the anarchic evacuation of 2.5 million from Houston and East Texas as hundreds of thousands were stuck in massive traffic jams in soaring summer heat. “If that storm had hit Houston a lot of people would have been stranded on the highway when it struck,” Singleton said.

Alvino Hernandez, a cutter in a sewing plant, was among the thousands who were unable to make it out of the city. Stuck in traffic for 15 hours, his car ran out of gas. “A farmer gave me enough gas to get me back to Houston,” he said, where he waited out the storm.

Seeking relief, as many as thousands of evacuees have lined up daily outside the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) office in Houston to register. On September 28, more than 20 people required medical attention for heat exhaustion after waiting in line all day. The offices closed at 1:00 p.m.

“I’ve been coming here for six days in a row and I still don’t have anything to show for it,” said Melody Beasley, a worker from Beaumont. The home she rented was destroyed in the storm.

Like tens of thousands of others along the Gulf Coast, Beasley is facing an uphill fight to get aid because of previous scrapes with the cops and courts. “Because I served a six-month sentence in Texas on a drug-related charge, I’ve been denied food stamps and housing in many of the apartment complexes that FEMA sends people to.” Instead, she explains, “they just tell me to go to the food bank and the Salvation Army.”
 
 
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Gulf Coast farmers face deeper crisis after Rita
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